There are many different applications where a load-transporting cable is used. Well over a hundred years ago such cables were used in mining operations to remove buckets of ore from a mine. In recent decades the sporting world has made extensive use of such apparatus, particularly on ski slopes and the like. In that environment the name ZIPLINE has become a popular shorthand name for the product. The load is often a single person who is to be transported.
A problem encountered in early mining days was how best to operate the cable through a curved path. That problem still faces today's sporting world. One solution has been to place a wheel in a horizontal plane at the location where the path of the cable needs to curve, and at the elevation at which the cable needs to be supported.. The wheel is then mounted on a vertical shaft and rotatable about a vertical axis. The cable must then be supported from the periphery of the wheel as the cable—and/or its load—negotiates along a curved path at the perimeter of the wheel. Various mechanisms have been used to support the loaded cable from the wheel.
In some situations the cable is pulled longitudinally, and carries a load attached at a fixed point along the cable length. The cable and its fixed load then travel together around a curved path defined by the ends of the wheel spokes. In other situations the cable itself is fixed and does not move longitudinally, but still requires vertical support at the spoke ends. A carriage or the like rides on the cable, and a load secured under the carriage moves along with the carriage lengthwise of the cable.